原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
老叟脫難
The Old Man Delivers the Pilgrim
不一時，紅日高昇，三藏昏昏沉沉，也辨不得東西南北。正在那不得命處，忽然見一老叟，手持拄杖而來。走上前，用手一拂，繩索皆斷。對面吹了一口氣，三藏方甦，跪拜於地道：「多謝老公公，搭救貧僧性命。」老叟答禮道：「你起來。你可曾疏失了甚麼東西？」三藏道：「貧僧的從人已是被怪食了。只不知行李、馬匹在於何處？」老叟用杖指道：「那廂不是一匹馬、兩個包袱？」三藏回頭看時，果是他的物件，並不曾失落，心才略放下些。問老叟曰：「老公公，此處是甚所在？公公何由在此？」老叟道：「此是雙叉嶺，乃虎狼巢穴處。你為何墮此？」三藏道：「貧僧雞鳴時，出河州衛界，不料起得早了，冒霜撥露，忽失落此地。見一魔王，兇頑太甚，將貧僧與二從者綁了。又見一條黑漢，稱是熊山君；一條胖漢，稱是特處士：走進來，稱那魔王是寅將軍。他三個把我二從者吃了，天光才散。不想我是那裡有這大緣大分，感得老公公來此救我？」老叟道：「處士者，是個野牛精；山君者，是個熊羆精；寅將軍者，是個老虎精。左右妖邪，盡都是山精樹鬼、怪獸蒼狼。只因你的本性元明，所以吃不得你。你跟我來，引你上路。」不一时，红日高升，三藏昏昏沉沉，也辨不得东西南北。正在那不得命处，忽然见一老叟，手持拄杖而来。走上前，用手一拂，绳索皆断。对面吹了一口气，三藏方苏，跪拜于地道：「多谢老公公，搭救贫僧性命。」老叟答礼道：「你起来。你可曾疏失了甚么东西？」三藏道：「贫僧的从人已是被怪食了。只不知行李、马匹在于何处？」老叟用杖指道：「那厢不是一匹马、两个包袱？」三藏回头看时，果是他的物件，并不曾失落，心才略放下些。问老叟曰：「老公公，此处是甚所在？公公何由在此？」老叟道：「此是双叉岭，乃虎狼巢穴处。你为何堕此？」三藏道：「贫僧鸡鸣时，出河州卫界，不料起得早了，冒霜拨露，忽失落此地。见一魔王，凶顽太甚，将贫僧与二从者绑了。又见一条黑汉，称是熊山君；一条胖汉，称是特处士：走进来，称那魔王是寅将军。他三个把我二从者吃了，天光才散。不想我是那里有这大缘大分，感得老公公来此救我？」老叟道：「处士者，是个野牛精；山君者，是个熊罴精；寅将军者，是个老虎精。左右妖邪，尽都是山精树鬼、怪兽苍狼。只因你的本性元明，所以吃不得你。你跟我来，引你上路。」
逐句解 Line by line
不一時，紅日高昇，三藏昏昏沉沉，也辨不得東西南北。正在那不得命處，忽然見一老叟，手持拄杖而來。走上前，用手一拂，繩索皆斷。對面吹了一口氣，三藏方甦，跪拜於地道：「多謝老公公，搭救貧僧性命。」老叟答禮道：「你起來。你可曾疏失了甚麼東西？」三藏道：「貧僧的從人已是被怪食了。只不知行李、馬匹在於何處？」老叟用杖指道：「那廂不是一匹馬、兩個包袱？」三藏回頭看時，果是他的物件，並不曾失落，心才略放下些。
不一时，红日高升，三藏昏昏沉沉，也辨不得东西南北。正在那不得命处，忽然见一老叟，手持拄杖而来。走上前，用手一拂，绳索皆断。对面吹了一口气，三藏方苏，跪拜于地道：「多谢老公公，搭救贫僧性命。」老叟答礼道：「你起来。你可曾疏失了甚么东西？」三藏道：「贫僧的从人已是被怪食了。只不知行李、马匹在于何处？」老叟用杖指道：「那厢不是一匹马、两个包袱？」三藏回头看时，果是他的物件，并不曾失落，心才略放下些。
Before long the red sun rose high, and Sanzang, dazed and reeling, could not tell east from west or south from north. Just at that point, when his life seemed past all saving, he suddenly saw an old man coming toward him, staff in hand. The old man walked up, gave a wave of his hand, and the ropes and cords all snapped apart; he breathed a breath upon his face, and Sanzang came to himself, knelt and bowed to the ground, and said: “My deep thanks, aged sir, for saving this poor monk's life.” Returning the courtesy, the old man said: “Rise. Have you perhaps lost anything of yours?” Sanzang said: “The men who attended me have already been eaten by the fiends. I only do not know where my baggage and my horse may be.” The old man pointed with his staff and said: “Is that not a horse and two bundles over yonder?” Sanzang turned his head to look, and it was indeed his own belongings, nothing lost at all; and only then did his heart set down a little of its burden.
The old man's gestures — a wave that severs the ropes, a breath that revives the fainting monk — mark him at once as no ordinary passer-by; his true identity, the star-god 太白金星, is disclosed only after he departs.
問老叟曰：「老公公，此處是甚所在？公公何由在此？」老叟道：「此是雙叉嶺，乃虎狼巢穴處。你為何墮此？」三藏道：「貧僧雞鳴時，出河州衛界，不料起得早了，冒霜撥露，忽失落此地。見一魔王，兇頑太甚，將貧僧與二從者綁了。又見一條黑漢，稱是熊山君；一條胖漢，稱是特處士：走進來，稱那魔王是寅將軍。他三個把我二從者吃了，天光才散。不想我是那裡有這大緣大分，感得老公公來此救我？」老叟道：「處士者，是個野牛精；山君者，是個熊羆精；寅將軍者，是個老虎精。左右妖邪，盡都是山精樹鬼、怪獸蒼狼。只因你的本性元明，所以吃不得你。你跟我來，引你上路。」
问老叟曰：「老公公，此处是甚所在？公公何由在此？」老叟道：「此是双叉岭，乃虎狼巢穴处。你为何堕此？」三藏道：「贫僧鸡鸣时，出河州卫界，不料起得早了，冒霜拨露，忽失落此地。见一魔王，凶顽太甚，将贫僧与二从者绑了。又见一条黑汉，称是熊山君；一条胖汉，称是特处士：走进来，称那魔王是寅将军。他三个把我二从者吃了，天光才散。不想我是那里有这大缘大分，感得老公公来此救我？」老叟道：「处士者，是个野牛精；山君者，是个熊罴精；寅将军者，是个老虎精。左右妖邪，尽都是山精树鬼、怪兽苍狼。只因你的本性元明，所以吃不得你。你跟我来，引你上路。」
He asked the old man: “Aged sir, what place is this? And how does it come that you are here?” The old man said: “This is Twin-Fork Ridge, a lair of tigers and wolves. How did you come to fall into it?” Sanzang said: “At cockcrow this poor monk left the border of the Hezhou garrison; but not looking to have started too early, I braved the frost and brushed through the dew, and suddenly fell into this place. I met a Monster King, savage and brutal beyond all measure, who bound this poor monk and his two attendants. Then came a swarthy fellow, who called himself the Mountain Lord Xiong, and a portly fellow, who called himself the Recluse Te; and when they came in, they called the Monster King General Yin. The three of them ate my two attendants, and only at daybreak did they disperse. What great karmic affinity and lot can I possess, that I should be favoured with your coming here to save me?” The old man said: “The Recluse is a wild-ox spirit; the Mountain Lord is a bear spirit; and General Yin is an old-tiger spirit. The fiends to either side are one and all mountain-sprites and tree-goblins, monstrous beasts and grey wolves. It is only because your own true nature is fundamentally enlightened that they could not eat you. Come with me, and I will set you on your road.”
雙叉嶺 (Shuāng-chā Lǐng), “Twin-Fork Ridge,” is the name given in the chapter's own title. The old man's account resolves the earlier mystery: the tiger, bear, and ox are 精 (jīng), animal-spirits, and Sanzang was spared because his 本性元明 — his “originally enlightened nature” — rendered him proof against them. The teaching restates the chapter's governing idea, that the pilgrim's inner purity is his truest protection.
總評 Commentary
The deliverance comes, as it so often will in the novel, from a disguised divinity — here an old man with a staff whose casual miracles (a wave that parts the ropes, a breath that revives) betray his more-than-human power. The scene is largely dialogue, and it does two kinds of work. It resolves the mystery planted earlier — why Sanzang alone was spared — by disclosing that the three fiends are animal-spirits and that the pilgrim's “originally enlightened nature” made him inedible, a doctrinally loaded explanation that ties his physical survival to his spiritual condition. And it names the place, Twin-Fork Ridge, binding this episode to the second half of the chapter's title, and the deliverer, still unnamed here, to the rescue the following scene will at last attribute to the Gold Star of the West. The prose is plain and expository, gathering the terror of the night into an ordered account and pointing forward to the pilgrim's release onto the road.